


I always feel like somebody's watching me

by abrighteryellow



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Anxiety, Dark, Dark Harry, First Meetings, Halloween, M/M, No Smut, Spooky, Stalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:27:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27232729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abrighteryellow/pseuds/abrighteryellow
Summary: Lately, Louis can't shake the feeling that he's being watched.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 28
Kudos: 66
Collections: 1D Trick Or Treat Fest 2020





	I always feel like somebody's watching me

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a huge fan of reading dark and spooky fics and figured this fest was a way to get my feet wet in writing them. I'm also a huge fan of the trash-ass genre of the ~~erotic thriller~~, especially the ones made in the '90s. That love in particular inspired this ficlet.
> 
> WARNING: As the tags indicate, this fic deals with stalking, i.e. being watched and followed without one's consent. If those concepts are triggering to you, please close this tab with every one of my blessings.
> 
> Thank you to the mods for running this fest and to my beloved Kim and Gillian for beta-ing. 
> 
> And HAPPY HALLOW(HARRY)WEEN!

Louis feels it for the first time on a Wednesday afternoon – a prickling at the base of his skull, like the touch of icy hot fingers.

His hand flies up to the back of his neck, his first fear being that something’s dripped on him. 

But there’s nothing there. Nothing when he turns around either.

He frowns to himself, chalking it up to one of those inexplicable sensations that comes with having a human body, then continues his walk to fetch his afternoon tea.

The feeling returns when he leaves the office for the evening – as in the exact moment he steps outside. Louis shivers and makes a mental note to wear his heavier coat tomorrow. It’s October, after all.

Layering up doesn’t solve the problem, however. When the prickles turn into near-constant goosebumps, Louis’ gut provides another theory.

“Do you ever get the feeling that you’re being watched?” he asks, leaning in close to Liam.

Liam glances around the park where they’re eating their lunch – a weekly ritual.

“You mean, like, checked out?”

“No,” Louis exhales, frustrated and wound tight. “Like there’s somebody looking... _all the time.”_

As the next few days go by, he becomes convinced that he’s losing it. There are eyes on him – one specific set of eyes – _that_ he knows. But no matter how many times he checks his back, all he sees are people going normally about their day, who only seem to notice him because of his own strange behavior.

Even his daily tea break is ruined. 

Distracted, Louis forgets to ask for his regular splash of milk, and the trainee doesn’t know his order yet. When he tries to add it himself, he jostles the cup with his wrist, narrowly avoiding scalding himself but managing to spill tea all over the milk station.

“Here,” a voice says, “let me help you.” 

Pulling napkins out of the dispenser, Louis looks up into a handsome, kind face framed by touchable brown curls. The stranger grabs a wad of napkins and starts to mop up before Louis can respond.

A moment later, an employee with a stack of towels waves them and Louis’ apologies off.

“Have this one, if you want,” the stranger offers. “I was bringing it to a friend as a surprise, so he won’t know the difference. It’s Yorkshire, no sugar.”

“You're sure?” Louis asks, the smell of his favorite brew tempting him to accept. “Can I pay you for it?”

The man smiles bashfully. 

“I’ll take your name, if that’s on the table.”

It’s not until he says goodbye to Harry, whose number is now in his phone, at the entrance to his office that he realizes: he hadn’t been tempted to glance over his shoulder on the walk back. Not even once.

It’s like that with Harry, Louis comes to realize. Despite the effect his pillowy pink lips and pale green eyes have on Louis’ heart rate, he, as a person, is calming. When Louis is with him, the only goosebumps he gets are when Harry takes his hand, brushing his thumb over his knuckles. And while it could have been intimidating that Harry is so stupendously fit, it helps that they’re ridiculously compatible.

They favor the same independent bookshop. Harry knew that the bi-annual sale of the thrift store where Louis likes to splurge on vintage concert tees was coming up before Louis did. He gets spoiled by Harry always being the one to suggest where they go on their dates, since he never chooses wrong.

He certainly hasn’t with this hole-in-the-wall Indian place. Sometimes Louis wonders if he can read his mind.

“I can’t eat another bite,” he groans, pushing back his plate of chicken rama. “You finish it.”

“I’m stuffed too,” Harry says, resting a hand on his stomach. “Have them wrap it up, take it for lunch with Liam tomorrow.”

For the first time in days, the prickling sensation returns.

“Harry?”

“Yeah?”

“I never told you I have a friend called Liam…”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed, please drop a kudos and/or a comment. The Tumblr post is [here](https://a-brighter-yellow.tumblr.com/post/633418034855477248/i-always-feel-like-somebodys-watching-me-by) for your reblogging pleasure.
> 
> Please also know that I love Harry Styles more than I love myself and that I do not think that he's a creepy stalker in real life! (Despite that stare – you know the one.) Nor do I think that stalking is okay or, heaven forbid, romantic. This has been a work of complete fiction and was written just for fun.


End file.
